Tainia_(costume)

Tainia (costume)

Tainia (costume)

Headband or fillet of Ancient Greece

This article is about a ribbon worn in the hair. For an element of Doric architecture, see Taenia (architecture). For other uses, see Taenia (disambiguation).

In ancient Greek costume, a tainia (Ancient Greek: ταινία; pl.: ταινίαι or Latin: taenia; pl.: taeniae) was a headband, ribbon, or fillet.

Coin of king Perseus of Macedon wearing a taenia or diadema headband
A Pompeian woman wearing a taenia girdle (painting by J.W. Godward, 1891)

The tainia headband was worn with the traditional ancient Greek costume. The headbands were worn at Greek festivals.[1] The gods also bound their heads with tainiai.[2] Furthermore, cult images,[3] trees,[4] urns, monuments, animal sacrifices and the deceased[5] had tainiai wound around them. They were later adopted by the Romans.[6] A similar type of headband was the diadema, used as a symbol for kings.

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Pl. Symp. 212d.e, 213d; Xen. Symp. 5,9
  2. [2]
    Paus. 1,8,4
  3. [3]
    Paus. 8,31,8; 10,35,10
  4. [4]
    Theocr. 18,44
  5. [5]
    Lucian, Dial. mort. 13,4
  6. [6]
    "Tainia." Brill's New Pauly. Brill Online, 2013. Reference. 28 June 2013

The dictionary definition of taenia at Wiktionary
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